Nice Dreams (1981)

I love the team of Cheech and Chong, but god, is Nice Dreams just a plain bad oregano misfire. I'm not sure why I even give it a 3. Uselessly discordant, it doesn't even successfully showcase their skit talents but for a few scenes in the movie. The plot is really not worth covering, and many other reviews have devoted time to attempt to explain it. Suffice it to say, this film was either made solely because of an unwanted production obligation, and thus made as poorly as could be, or (I doubt) made in such a coke induced stupor as to be retarded. Not stoned, but retarded. It begins, then it introduces absurd plot points (like the boys living in a PALACE on the beaches of California), Stacey Keach in a pointless police role who slowly morphs into a lizard due to smoking the unexplained tainted weed they are peddling in their frightening nightmare of an ice cream truck. Even these early "hey man, it's the cops, RUN!" moments are then just tossed out the broken window of this madness. Women run about, Pee Wee makes the scene, twice (how did he get out to make the first scene of his, you must watch to find out why I even ask), and blah blah blah. It sucks. It's not funny, even when stoned to the gills.

Unless you're REALLY stoned to the point of becoming a lizard, do not seek this C+C opus out at all. Rather, be high, listen to Big Bambu on your 8 track and laugh your ass off, and say that you're not here.

Fmovies: I saw this one in the theater when it came out in 1981.. I was 10 or 11 years old and I just loved it. Although I don't think I had seen it since, as a big fan of Cheech and Chong, I ordered the DVD from Columbia House to fulfill my membership obligation, since it was the only Cheech & Chong movie they had available.

Well it did not quite match what I remembered, I'm sorry to say. It was rather unpolished and unfocused, making the classic "Up in Smoke" seem like an Oscar winner in comparison. Despite an unforgettable performance from Pee Wee Herman and some laughs (if you're already a fan of C&C), this is one you can probably skip.

These guys are great, from the records to the live shows to their movies. This movie has some great scenes, the scene's with Pee Wee and Timothy Leary. The look of the film dates it perfectly. I've liked this movie since the first time I saw it 10 years ago. Everyone I know loves Cheech and Chong. 2 THUMBS UP ^^

Nice Dreams fmovies. Cheech and Chong run an ice cream business called Nice Dreams, which actually is a cover for them to sell their special blend of dope. Soon after reaching a considerable amount of cash they decide to retire for a relaxing life on their own island with all the girls they want. But before this dream can become reality, they have to elude the cops led by the Sarge Stedanko who will stop at nothing to get their hands on them. All of this leads to many unplanned confrontations and actions that don't always workout for the best.

The third film of the series is a really spaced-out stoner comedy (even more so then the first two flicks) from the comical duo Cheech and Chong. This one is more spaced-out because it throws in some surreal moments into fodder. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two outings, sure nothing will beat the memorable "Up In Smoke", but I thought they slightly out did themselves here compared to their previous outing "Next Movie" and that could be attributed to Stacy Keach returning as Sarge Stedanko too. It was great to see that Sarge and his man are on the trail again. Though, I wish there was a bit more screen time for Keach.

Everything about this one seems more silly and absurd, especially the scenes involving how anyone, or anything that smokes their strong weed will turn into a lizard. The whole concept is purely stoner humour! The film doesn't have much in a way of narrative, but more so comical episodes. But that's what you expect anyway. Something is always happening with Cheech and Chong getting in all sorts of mayhem and also meeting buoyant and irregular characters along the way. One of those characters involves a whacked out doctor and Paul Ruben's performance as Howie Hamburger Dude adds to the laughs too. The humour is required taste, definitely. It throws in many sexual and drug related gags. Sure, some of the jokes and gimmicks are crude, messy, coarse and fall flat, but the pair works off each other perfectly well with their fluid timing that you seem to let it all go. They alone can carry a film. It moves along rather quickly, which helps considerably too and there's a well-booted and spicy soundtrack to keep the energy levels high. Also I loved the ironic ending to their dream life. The script might be filled with low-brow lines, but still you got some clever wit and pointless rambles that are engaging enough, if moronic in vibe. It's not terribly perfect as a whole, but there are enough spirited and unpredictable sketches (like the nut-house and acid trip scene and those ones involving the incompetent police) and performances to overlook these failures. From what I hear and read, people usually rate this one as their second best feature and I tend to agree.

Incredibly stupid, but I got a kick out of it nonetheless. It's an enjoyably crazy romp from the beginning to the end. A definite must for the fans.

This is the third Cheech and Chong film, coming after Up in Smoke (1978) and Cheech and Chong's Next Movie (1980). The films are a series in the traditional way--characters continue, and there is something of a linear development per the films' chronologies of the characters, but as with the plot of this film in isolation, the threads holding it all together are pretty thin.

In Nice Dreams, Cheech and Chong are selling dope from a barely disguised ice cream truck. They may have struck it rich by this point, or maybe Cheech just doesn't know how to read numbers very well. At any rate, they do not seem to be hurting for money--they have a bag of it, after all, which they have to pursue later in the film--and somehow, they're living in a very expensive, big house on the beach outside of Los Angeles, although it seems that maybe they're just crashing at a friend of a friend's place while he's away (he's a musician on tour).

A lot of it is pretty unclear, because the last thing that Cheech and Chong as writers and director (only Chong in the latter case) are concerned with is telling anything like a traditional story. Instead, it seems like maybe they were high while they wrote and filmed this. That's usually meant as a negative--the idea is to denote how little sense the work makes, or how little coherence it has. I don't mean it that way here. I don't mean it as a knock, necessarily. I mean it literally, and consequently to underscore a kind of stream-of-consciousness, absurdist and surreal flow. Those can all be very positive qualities, as they are occasionally here. But maybe Cheech and Chong were just looking for the easiest way to string together a number of sketch ideas, and not enough sketch ideas, because some of them are drawn out or reprised past their freshness date. And that probably goes for the whole premise of Cheech and the Man (Chong) selling dope and getting into wacky situations while being pursued by Sgt. Stedanko (Stacy Keach). Nice Dreams feels too much like Cheech and Chong are just coasting--vamping while waiting for the next soloist to start. Although I love experimentation as much as anyone else, this is a film that would have benefited from a stronger focus on telling a story in a traditional way. I don't always think that something different is better just because it's different.

So this is definitely a step down from the first two films, although there are more than enough funny moments to keep a fan of the first two films mildly entertained, and most of the supporting actors, including the returning ones, are enjoyable and had even more potential. Some skits (that word fits here better than "scenes"), like the crazy house and the fiasco at Donna's apartment, and even the "Save the Whales" song, are as good as most of the material in the first two films. But overall, it just seems like their hearts, and maybe their heads, weren't as much into making a film this time around.

Cheech and Chong return as incognito ice cream men, selling a particularly potent flavor of ice cream (Mary Jane) out of a crazy ice cream truck (with a giant clown head on a spring). While this is going on, the incompetent 5-0 are on their tail in a sting operation (Narcothon). This is all due to their discovery of a new kind of weed that turns the smoker into a lizard. Thats the plot.

The rest consists of the outrageous interactions between Cheech, Chong and everyone else. Imagine an entire evening of constant bar hopping, for reference. The major difference between this movie and the other good C&C movies (Up in Smoke, Next Movie) is that C&C are quite wealthy due to their ice cream sales. Their lavish incomes can afford them luxury dreams such as :

1) sipping pina colonics, on their bought island, where they have topless slaves that worship them and are referred to as the Sun Kings.

2) a theme park called Vatto Land, with Guitar Land in it. (guest gangs, everyone gets to do their own graffiti walls,etc.)

This is by far the craziest set of circumstances out of all the good C&C movies. It is also, I feel, the funniest of all the C&C movies. Paul Reubens (this is Pee Wee's 2nd appearance in a C&C movie) and Timothy "I have the key right here" Leary are amongst the famous cameos. Stacy Keach also reprises his role from Up in Smoke, as Sgt. Stedenko. Even Sandra Bernhard makes a brief cameo as one of the nuts.

There are numerous scenes of hilarity in the movie. The funniest of these has to be the scene at the Honk Kong restaurant where the guys meet Cindy the Agent (Chong is mistaken for Jerry Garcia), followed by Cheech's Quaalude reunion with his high school sweetheart Donna (who was going to be a nun) and her date, the Hamburger Dude (a.k.a, Paul Reubens), bearing Koka-Kola (original version). The other funny scene is Cheech's death-row trip, complete with Michael Winslow (a.k.a Larvell Jones, who also makes his second appearance in a C&C movie). Of course this wouldn't be a C&C movie without a musical number. Nice Dreams gives us "Save the Whales".

This is an absolute can't miss for fans of Cheech and Chong and a perfect remedy for the munchies, blood-shot eyes, cotton-mouth, late night insomnia and cancellation of Dave's show.

-Celluloid Rehab